After concerns were raised over an increased risk of heart attack for those taking the diabetes drug Avandia, a U.S. advisory panel voted this week to keep the pill on the market. Concern over the safety of Avandia was spurred by a May 21 report in the New England Journal of Medicine that linked the pill to a 43% increased risk of heart attack in diabetics. While the advisory panel voted 22-1 to keep Avandia on the market, they voted 20-3 that evidence does show an increased risk of heart attack and said that the Food and Drug Administration should require strong new warnings on the box. Diabetic patients with heart failure or significant cardiovascular disease, or those who are taking nitrates or insulin, are at the greatest risk. Avandia, approved by the FDA in 1999, is prescribed to help improve diabetic’s sensitivity to natural insulin, and is made by GlaxoSmithKline Plc.